Oil Pulling

It all started during #beautychat, (By the way did you guys know I am addicted to Twitter chats?) when @BeautyHigh mentioned oil pulling. And of course I was immediately intrigued. Having had the same jar of coconut oil in my pantry for over a year, I knew I had to try it. I originally started buying coconut oil for my hair. I used at as a deep conditioning treatment, but got lazy. Though I started again, so sit tight, there will be some amazing hair masks recipes coming up to BeingZhenya.com soon!

So what is oil pulling?
Oil pulling is the latest trend to take the wellness community by storm, but it’s actually a traditional practice in Ayurveda — a holistic medical system from India that dates back 3,000 to 5,000 years. Ayurveda’s key objective: to promote good health and well-being through balancing the mind, body and spirit. According to practitioners, it’s when this balance is disturbed that sickness can occur. To maintain order, specific treatments, including oil pulling, are determined based on a person’s dosha, or mind-body type. (TheDailyBeast.com)

Where do you begin?
All you need is some coconut oil, a spoon, and 20 minutes of your time in the morning. I have been buying my coconut oil from Marshalls/TJ Maxx, but Costco has an extremely appealing deal now for Organic Coconut oil – 2 giant tubs for $23.99. I think I could bathe in that amount of oil! I spend the 20 minutes catching up on blogs, commenting and spreading the blog love, so it’s time well spent for sure.

When I put the oil in my mouth it’s hard, and I let it melt inside, trust me it does it in about 1 minute! My first day was extremely awkward though. The oil kept squirting out of my moth (because I probably had too much in), and dripping down my chin, so I was constantly wiping it up. Now that I’ve been doing it for 2 weeks, I barely even notice.

The first time I tried it my salivary glands kind of freaked out as well, and there was too much saliva in my mouth. But since it’s good for the body and your body knows it, it’s never happened again.

After 20 minutes are up, I spit out the oil in the trash can, since I’ve heard that it’s not good for the septic system (glad I found that out early, because our house is over 50 years old), and brush and floss my teeth like I normally do. I know some people are substituting teeth brushing with oil pulling, that’s up to you.

What are the benefits?
I can list you off what all the magazines and blogs are saying, but let’s be honest, you don’t want to hear that. These are the changes I’ve noticed:

- No nasal congestion or sinus problems, even if I wake up congested, after I oil pull, it all goes away. My husband has also been battling a cold, and I haven’t gotten it, which is amazing. I do have a history of really bad sinus infections, and I am so happy this is helping. I can’t do the neti pot, but I can do oil pulling!

- No more cystic acne. I had about 2-3 bad ones, which at 27 is pretty embarrassing, but they are gone! And the best thing is – no new acne, not even when I am on my period (sorry for the TMI)!

- No more Chapstick! Oil pulling keeps my lips soft and moisturized throughout the day! Now if it could only do the same for my hands!

What do you think? A new crazy trend or a great way to detox your body? I created a little fact sheet for you in case you want to give it a shot!

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